Tune in at 10:00 to see the confirmation hearing of former Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Secretary of Labor. You can watch it here at 10:00 this morning.
Thanks to the events of the past two week, the hearing promises to be a bit more interesting than might have been expected a couple of weeks ago.
Chavez-DeRemer, as I’ve written before is a shockingly moderate nominee for the virulently anti-worker Trump administration. Possibly at the urging of Teamster President Sean O’Brien, Trump nominated the former Oregon Republican Congresswoman despite the fact that she is on record as supporting the PRO Act which would make it easier for unions to organize.
Her nomination is consistent with last week’s nomination of former UPS and Amazon safety executive David Keeling as OSHA’s new Assistant Secretary. Both are nominations you might expect in a typical Republican administration — not Donald Trump.
But what had been expected to be a fairly easy slide to confirmation, might be looking a little more problematic now– or at least livelier. Her former bipartisan appeal may be disappearing — from both ends
Chavez-DeRemer’s hearing is the first confirmation hearing since Elon Musk launched his wanton illegal rape and pillaging of the federal government and his termination of thousands of federal government employees.
Democrats may not be quite as willing to give her smooth sailing given the illegal mass firings of recent weeks, the illegal assassination of USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, as well the potential illegal pillaging of confidential information from the Department of Labor, IRS and the Office of Personnel Management.
Some Democrats on the committee are already against her. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said he had a “good conversation” with Chavez-DeRemer but questioned whether anyone at the administration would listen to the labor secretary. His bottom line: “I’m not supporting nominees as long as the lawlessness continues.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., was even more blunt: “I’m a hard no on her. And it’s not a protest vote. It’s about her character and commitment to the Constitution. She didn’t bow out of this job when she found out Trump was going to force her to act illegally.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the top Democrat on the committee, and former chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., both said they’ll wait for the hearing before commenting. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said she’s not ruling out a yes vote just yet: “I’ll give her a fair shake.”
To make matters more complicated, at least one Republican member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — Rand Paul (R-KY) — has announced that he will oppose Chavez DeRemer because she is too labor-friendly.
Paul is a great defender of so-called anti-union “Right to Work” laws which the PRO Act would weaken.
If Paul votes against her, she will need at least one Democrat to support her nomination. That seem pretty easy a couple of weeks ago. Not so much now.
It would be ironic if Trump’s only Cabinet nominee to go down is his most moderate nominee. And, of course, if she crashes and burns, who (or what) would Trump come up to replace her?